If you can panhandle,you can work.

I use to panhandle when I was still in high school to get money for booze! I truly needed it and i really bought the cheapest alcohol i could find. Unless you a con artist it generally takes a lot of time and confidence! And sometimes I was really hungry. Now that I'm on the other side (not by much though) i remember the people who let me have a good time and i give money to teens who are prolly going to buy a Mad Dog 20/20, an Olde English to have a good time. Good times! If you meet these kind of panhandlers, be kind to them, they're going to make the best out of your change! See, I'm not an alcoholic, in fact alcohol has largely lost its fun and interest to me, but it was well worth it and it's good school memories. Not very materially rewarding, but you can really have a good time if you do it well! If people give you money, don't buy useless pricey stuff. I hated those chicks who would ask 0,80euro for a worthless can of coke while one can get half-drunk with that. ARGH!!

It's hard to tell if the guy actually needs the money or is just some shmuck looking for free money.

Sitting on the street and dancing for money? Not my hat of money.

Panhandlers make more than real workers.

In my city the real panhandlers (genuinely homeless) are far outnumbered by the hordes of suburbanite kids who trek down-town to beg holding a Starbucks cup, and wearing a couple hundred bucks worth of Nikes. It's as though someone is running streetperson for a day excursions out in the burbs.

Well I could just see it now. My kid goes up to me and my wife and says Dad, Mom, I want to be a panhandler when I grow up. I'd reply, get a job. I understand that some people go through rough times, but if you're fully capable and competent and are doing this, then you're a slacker.

One thing I will never, ever understand is why there continue to be panhandlers in the northern cities. Why don't these people start commuting south so that at least they can be warm in the winter? Use your coin for bus fare, or hitch-hike, or even start walking - it's not like these people have an agenda to keep to.

This is a job?????

This would not be a good profession for me, since panhandlers are generally homeless, and homelessness has always been one of my greatest fears.